India's Celebration Around Sam Konstas Was Quite Daunting: McDonald
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Sydney, Jan 4 (NationPress) Australia head coach Andrew McDonald accused India of intimidating 19-year-old opener Sam Konstas with the way visitors surrounded him at the end of Day 1 of the fifth Test in a daunting celebration.
The incident occurred on the last delivery of Day 1, when young Konstas, who has consistently gotten under the skin of the visitors since his debut in the fourth Test, was engaged in an animated discussion with skipper Jasprit Bumrah before the Indian spearhead proceeded to dismiss Usman Khawaja on the very next ball.
A fired-up Bumrah delivered a heated send-off to Konstas, with the Indian fielders joining in, as the visitors had some cheers at the close of a challenging day.
"My conversation with him (Konstas) was merely to check if he was okay. Clearly, the way that India celebrated was quite intimidating. It's entirely within the Laws of the Game and the regulations – no charges have been laid.
"However, to see an opposing team swarm around the non-striker like that – we have a duty of care to our player to ensure he's alright and mentally prepared to perform the next day. So those were the discussions," McDonald mentioned in the post-day press conference.
Andy Pycroft, the ICC match referee who imposed a fine on Kohli in Melbourne after the Indian great charged his shoulder at debutant Konstas, is also overseeing the final match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. He did not charge Bumrah or any other Indian players after they surrounded the 19-year-old.
McDonald pointed out that the ICC's decision to refrain from imposing any fines or charges against the Indians legitimizes their reaction and sets a standard for his team.
"It's evident that it's acceptable since there were no fines or penalties. I will leave it to the ICC, with Andy Pycroft as the match referee and the umpires present. If they deemed it satisfactory, then I guess that's the standard we are playing against," he added.
